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Grandmother weighs in on drinking flap
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NOT usually one to mince words, former first Lady Barbara Bush suggested that there may be a certain poetic justice in the travails faced by her son, President George W Bush, as he grapples with illicit drinking by his teenage daughters.
"He is getting back some of his own," she said on Thursday, in a reference to the underage-drinking flap involving her granddaughter, Jenna.
Jenna, 19, a student at the University of Texas, pleaded no contest last month after being arrested for possessing a beer at an Austin nightspot while the Secret Service waited outside. She was ordered to attend alcohol awareness classes and pay court costs of around US$50.
Barbara Bush made her remarks at a benefit sponsored by the social group, the Junior League in Indianapolis, Indiana, before an audience of some 1,000 attendees.
Bush himself has spoken publicly about his own experience with alcohol, a history that involved a number of brushes with the law and involved much youthful binge drinking while a college student. Bush gave up drinking completely on his 40th birthday.
On Thursday, the same day their grandmother was making her comments to the Junior League, Jenna and her twin sister Barbara were issued criminal citation in Austin for underage drinking.
Jenna was cited for allegedly using fake identification to buy a drink, while Barbara was cited for illegal possession of alcohol. The legal age for consumption of alcoholic drinks in Texas is 21.
The elder Barbara Bush, 76, who regaled the audience with jokes, quotations, advice and anecdotes about life within the patrician clan, was a popular figure during the presidency of her husband George Bush, and is once again in demand as a speaker now that her son occupies the White House.
Being married to a president is one thing, she said but "now that I'm the 'mother of', it appears people will listen to anything I say."
Bush suggested that despite his reputation for youthful hijinks, George W not altogether unruly as a child.
"I have no terrible stories to share about your president," she said.
"I distinctly remember that it was his brothers and sister who caused all of the problems."(SD-Agencies)
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